Compound railway-rail.



Pa'tented Oct. 28, I902.

. J. N. CBABB.

COMPOUND RAILWAY RAIL.

(Application filed-Jan. 30, 1902.

(No Model.)

IN VENT 0R:

WITNESSES;-

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES JAMES N.

CRABB, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIA-NA, ASSIGNOR or ONE-FOURTH TO WILLIAM a. ZUMPFE, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

COMPOUND RAILWAY-RAIL.

SPECiEFIGATIONforhaing part be teet rs mat 1\ |'o. 712, 121,dated o tage 1902. 1

I Application filed January 30, 1902. Serial No. 91l875. (No inodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES NJORABB, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of 5 Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compound Railway- Rails; and I do declare the following to bea full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon-,whieh form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to rails which form tracks for locomotives, cars, and similar vehicles designed to be carried on wheels; and it has particular reference to compound or built-up rails, such as are composed of detachzo able sections.

The object of the invention is to provide a rail which shall be free from joints that might Vibrate when under strains either vertically or laterally-a rail which when laid will be virtually continuous, so that the inevitable open joints that must be made on account of expansion and contraction of metals may be rendered less objectionable than they have heretofore been. I Another object is to provide a rail which may be adapted to have the head thereof removed when worn out and replaced by a new head, thereby avoiding the loss incident to the practice of scrapping whole worn-'outrails. w 5 A further object is to provide a'laminated rail, which may eliminate the danger of derailment of the cars should a break in a rail occur during coldweather, as is always possible; and a still further object is to provide a rail which may have its main sustaining parts composedof relatively soft metal, so that the liability to rupture may be eliminated in a great measure and the head or wearing part be composed of" relatively hard metal, 5 adapted to resist the wearing action of the loads upon it in service.

The above-mentioned objects are attained in the construction illustrated and fully described herein, which .is simple,'cheap, and

durable, as well as economical in use.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a top plan, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of a rail constructed substantially in conformity to my invention; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical sectional view of the same, showing particularly the novel features embodied in the rail-web; Fig. 4, a' transverse vertical sectional view of a detached central portion of p the weband the head of the rail, a portion being broken away; Figs. 5 and 6', transverse 6o vertical sectional views of detached side portionsof the-web and the base-flanges, portions of the latter being broken away; and Fig. 7 a fragmentary'view'in elevation of the rear or inner face of a side portion of the web and the base. In'practically carrying out my invention the rail base and flanges and the rail head or ball may be made in any suitable shape that may be desired or required. The rail as a whole may be designed either for a steam-road or for a street-railway, as may be desired. The invention, however, may, be understood by considering its application to a Well-known form of T-rail, as shown in the drawings. I

flange, the two flanges forming web side portions 1) and b, respectively, of the complete web of the rail. The central portion d of the web is designed to extend betweenthe side portions 1) b, and the rail-head e is integrally attached to the central web portion 01, sub- 0 stantially as in the well-known man ner.- The central portion and theside portions of the web are secured together by anysuitable means, as bolts f, extending through suitable holes h h 'L' in a manner similar to that in 5 which angle-bars or splice-bars are attached to rail ends.

It will be understood that each rail properas, for instance, one thirty feet in length will be composed of three principal parts, not 100,

including the bolts, the parts'being equal in length when formed, but not connected together with their ends in the same planes, as will be hereinafter explained.

Considered specifically in transverse section, the parts a b are counterparts of the parts a Z), and therefore a description of one will sufiice for the other. The side portion 1) of the web has its inner face m in a plane slightly oblique to the facej of the base, as shown. At the top Z of the base is an inclined face extending inwardly and downwardly to the bottom of the face m, so as to form, substantially, a V-shaped groove 7t, and when the faces j are in contact an inverted- V-shaped rib is thereby formed between the two side portions of the Webat the top of the base portion. The top of the side portion 1) has an inclined upper face n, or substantially inclined, so as to form a rib p at the top of the face m. The outer face q is preferably perpendicular to the base of the rail. The central portion d of the web has two substantially plane faces 4' and .5, diverging from the bottoms u u upwardly, and in the bottom is an inverted-V-shaped groove 25, adapted to fit over the rib at the top of the base portion, above described. By reason of the diverging faces 0 s the upper portion of the part at is thicker transversely than the lower portion thereof. At the tops of the faces r s are inverted-V-shaped grooves '0, preferably immediately below the head e of the rail, these grooves being adapted toreceive the ribs 19 p, that are on the side po'rtions of the web.

In laying the .rails to form atrack thejoints of the several parts are staggered, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the joints 1 2 3 4, 30.,

- of the head 6 and central portion d of the web being reinforced by both of the bases at a and the side portions 1) b of the web, the joints 5 6 7, &c., of the base portion a and side portion 1) being reinforced by the central portion (1 and head 6 and the base a and web portion 1), and the joints 8 9 10, &c., of the base portion a. and web portion b being reinforced by the central portion d and head e and the base portion a. and web portion b. It will be seen, therefore, that should a fracture occur in any one of the laminations of the web there Will still remain two parts that will be intact, except at a joint, where there will be at least one part of the web to depend upon until repairs could be made without inconvenience to traffic over the road.

It will be noticed that the weight of the rail-head, as well as the train-weight upon it, will tend to draw the base portions a a and the side portions b I) together, and thus insure solidity and also prevent looseness independently of the bolts or other fastening devices.

If preferred, the portion cl may be of uniform thickness and the faces m be modified to correspond.

As described above, the upper portions of both of the side portions 1) I) contribute to the lateral strength of the head (2, as will be ohvious.

It may be stated that in this invention the well-known form of Initered rail ends may be particularly usefulthat is, the ends of the head e and web portion 01 may be mitered in-- stead of being squared, as shown in the drawings.

The manner in which repairs and renewals may be made will be readily understood from the foregoing description.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is-- 1. A compound railway-rail including a pair of base portions and web side portions, the inner opposing faces of the side portions diverging from the base portions upwardly; a head and central web portion engaging the web side portions, the central web portion having the sides thereof converging from the head downwardly and engaging the pair of base portions; connecting devices for the Web portions extending therethrough; and means extending from end to end of the pair of base portions coacting directly therewith and operating to draw the pair of base portions together independently of the connecting devices.

2. A compound railway-rail comprising a pair of base portions having the upper faces thereof sloping from the inner joint edges thereof downwardly toward the outer edges thereof, web side portions having the inner opposing faces thereof diverging from the upper sloping faces of the pair of base portions upwardly, a head portion, a central Web portion having the sides thereof converging from the head portion downwardly and bearing upon the upper sloping faces of the pair of base portions, and connecting devices extending through the web side and web central portions in a plane above the plane on which the central web-section bears upon the sloping faces of the base portions, substantially as set forth.

3. In a railway-rail, the combination of the pair of base portions having the grooves near the inner edges in the upper faces thereof, the web side portions having the opposing inner faces diverging from said grooves upwardly attached to said base portions, the central web portion bearing in said grooves and having the sides thereof diverging upwardly from the bottom thereof, the head attached to said central web portion and bearing upon said web side portions, and the retaining-bolts extending through said web side portions and said central web portion, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES N. ORABB.

Witnesses:

WM. H. PAYNE, E. '1. SILVIUS. 

